<Begin Segment 3>

LT: Well, let's talk about your childhood, because I understand that you and your family lived in a log cabin.

JH: Uh-huh, yes, we did.

LT: Can you talk about what it looked like outside and inside and what it was like living in one?

JH: You know, the outside, it was done in all logs, but the inside looks just like any other home, because we had a kitchen and then a dining room, living room together, and just one bedroom, one big bedroom. So, of course, we had cabins for the help, so we used one of the cabins as a bedroom for Homer and Charlie to sleep in at night.

LT: And what about you? There was one more bedroom.

JH: I had, there was two beds in that one big bedroom, and I slept on one bed and my parents slept on the other bed.

LT: Okay, okay. Now, as a kid, what did you do at home to help your family?

JH: I helped with cleaning the house. Not the cooking, just cleaning the house, my mother did all the cooking.

LT: So what kinds of jobs did you have in the house?

JH: I would mop the floor, sweep, all that. And my mom did all the laundry 'til we got the washing machine, and then that was, then they, it was done all by machine.

LT: There was at least one time when you'd mopped the floor and one of your brothers got in the way?

JH: Oh, yes, Charlie came in with dirty feet, and I chased him down the street with the mop. [Laughs]

LT: So it sounds like you took your job very seriously. While you worked at home, do you also remember playing games with your brothers?

JH: No, no, I don't. Because we, after we got home from school, we changed our clothes and went right out in the field until it was dark, and then of course Mom would come home earlier and then fix the meal. But I don't remember ever playing with, doing, playing games or anything like that.

LT: So how old were you when you came home from school and changed clothes and went right out to work?

JH: Right after we were in first grade.

LT: So you were six or seven?

JH: Uh-huh.

LT: Okay. So what did you put on, and what kinds of jobs did you have in the farm?

JH: Like hoeing the strawberries and hoeing around the asparagus, around the tree. We'd change into our jeans and go right out in the field.

LT: Did you work in the asparagus as well?

JH: Uh-huh.

LT: What did you do there?

JH: In the morning before we left for school, we'd go out and cut the asparagus until it was time to come home and change clothes and head for school.

LT: How do you cut asparagus?

JH: With a short knife, and you cut at an angle.

LT: Okay. How do you know how long to cut it?

JH: You measure it with a knife. We have a knife, and the length of your knife is where you should cut.

LT: It seems to me as a six-year-old, that some of your classmates at school might be playing games and having fun. Did you ever think, "Wait a minute, I shouldn't be working I should be playing"?

JH: No, you know, that's one thing that never bothered me, but I know my good friend Mieko, her mother used to tell me, she says, Mieko would tell my mom, Mieko would complain that, "Why do I have to change clothes and go out in the field?" And my mom would tell her, "Well, Jessie never did complain. She thought it was her job to just go right out and help." [Laughs]

LT: So you took your job pretty seriously.

JH: Yeah, I really did.

LT: You mopped the floor at home and you worked out on the farm without complaining, and you worked right after school until dark?

JH: Uh-huh.

LT: Did your other classmates, your Nisei classmates, do the same?

JH: Yes, well, Mieko did, too, but her mom told my mom that she really didn't want to. She'd complain and would go out, but they all helped. Michiko and they helped, too. When you have a farm, and you usually have to go out and hoe around the tree or whatever, strawberries.

LT: You weren't a complainer.

JH: No, no, I figured that was my job. [Laughs]

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2014 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.